Economy

Jim Mather (Highlands and Islands) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to issue economic growth forecasts.

Mr Jim Wallace: The Scottish Executive monitors the projections of three independent economic forecasters: Cambridge Econometrics, Fraser of Allander Institute and Experian Business Strategies. We work closely with each of these organisations in sharing information and assessments of Scottish, UK and global economic activity. We feel that the most appropriate role of the Scottish Executive is to concentrate our resources on producing the most robust and timely estimates of Scottish economic activity and these, in turn, feed into the independent forecasters models and projections.

Economy

Jim Mather (Highlands and Islands) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what statutory powers it has to influence the economy and what plans it has to use such powers in each case.

Mr Jim Wallace: The powers of the Scottish Executive and the Scottish Parliament are defined in the Scotland Act. The Executive’s overarching approach to economic development is set out in the Framework for Economic Development in Scotland , published in June 2000. My reply to S2W-5814 on 9 February 2004 sets out current developments in this area, but one of the key underpinning principals to the framework is to recognise the impact policies in all areas of the Executive’s competence have on economic development.

Fisheries

Fergus Ewing (Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive at what point in the negotiations at the December EU Agriculture and Fisheries Council the UK delegation ceased to make the requirement that the 10% reduction in the west of Scotland nephrops quota, introduced at the December 2000 Council, be reinstated and why this was not pursued as a key requirement.

Allan Wilson: We believe that there is a credible scientific argument for restoring the 10% cut in the West of Scotland nephrops total allowable catch (TAC). However, our arguments were hampered because the scientific advice from the International Council for the Exploration of the Seas (ICES) does not currently support such an increase and associated catch statistics suggest that the industry does not catch its existing quota in full.

Historic Scotland

Mr Bruce McFee (West of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what representations the First Minister has made to Historic Scotland in the last four months.

Mr Frank McAveety: None. Historic Scotland is an agency within the Scottish Executive Education Department which is directly responsible to Scottish ministers.

Local Government

Mr Brian Monteith (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive how many retirements from local authorities were due to ill-health and how many retirements there were in total from local authorities in each year since 1996.

Tavish Scott: Data on the total number of retirements to local authority pension schemes has been collected by the Scottish Executive since 1998-99. Data on the number of retirements due to ill-health is only available at the Scotland level from 2000-01. The table below presents figures from these years to 2002-03, the latest year for which data are available.

  Retirements to Local Authority Pension Schemes, 1998-99 to 2002-03

  


Year

Number 
  of Retirements

Number 
  of Retirements due to Ill-Health

Total 
  Contributing Members



1998-99

4,462

n/a

146,630



1999-2000

4,010

n/a

159,529



2000-01

4,080

1,285

165,274



2001-02

4,027

1,149

177,187



2002-03

4,126

1,165

182,700



  Note: These figures exclude teachers, police service and fire service staff as they have separate pension schemes.

  It should be noted that some employees of Scottish local authorities may not be members of a local authority pension scheme. Data on all retirements from local authorities are not held centrally.

NHS Waiting Times

Linda Fabiani (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-4809 by Malcolm Chisholm on 19 January 2004, whether the outliers in the dataset were disregarded for the purpose of statistical analysis of waiting times and lists.

Malcolm Chisholm: The outliers in the dataset are not disregarded for the purposes of statistical analysis of waiting times and lists, hence they will have an impact on both the mean and median values.

Water Charges

Dennis Canavan (Falkirk West) (Ind): To ask the Scottish Executive what the estimated cost would be of introducing exemptions from water and sewerage charges for community amateur sports clubs.

Allan Wilson: The Scottish Executive does not hold the information that would be needed to provide a reasonable estimate of these costs.